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What Else They’re Doing

I don’t know if you’re aware of this or not, but the people who make up the cast of The Hunger Games franchise are pretty damn busy lately, and I don’t just mean Jennifer Lawrence. Although Jen probably wins for most busy though. Why? ‘Cause they wrapped on re-shoots for Catching Fire only a smattering of weeks ago, and now she’s jetted off to Boston to film another film with David O. Russell at the helm, Bradley Cooper will also co-star (third time’s the charm?), Jeremy Renner, and none other than Christian Bale is playing her husband. After that project wraps, I’ll make the educated guess that she’ll be off to Vancouver, B.C. to film her second X-Men film. Busy Bee, we should just call her that now, and she wouldn’t even be able to call foul, ’cause it’s so true, she’d probably cheer us on, and then ask for a Bud. Jen’s not the only cast member though, obviously– so who else is racking up the projects? Well, pretty much all of them!

Let’s start with the most random! Ashton Moio AKA, District 6 Tribute Boy was on HBO’s The Newsroom last season, and his character even had a name, which was Lester, he even had lines, and he didn’t die– it was awesome. Ashton deserves a slow clap for that, or maybe for being the guy with the audacity to hit on Sloan Sabbith (Olivia Munn) in the middle of working out a story, all whilst stuck on the tarmac at JFK International Airport. I am slow clapping my ass off right now, ’cause he was hilarious. Really– everyone go catch up on The Newsroom before the second season premieres later this year (probably August).

Next we have fan-favorite Dayo Okeniyi, and yes– I still have to look up how to spell his last name every single time I have to type it out. I’m sorry, Dayo, but that’s a lot of vowels. Anyway, aside from Dayo’s unique last name with all the letters that trip me up, he has been really really busy since the summer before last, otherwise known as The Summer of The Hunger Games. Actually it’s not known as that, I just made that up, but it sounds better than the summer of 2011. Back to Dayo! After Hunger Games wrapped Dayo went and made a whopping four films! I say whopping because four films in two years, means– well, a lot of time being four different people. He’s an actor, that’s what he does– pretends to be other people. A little fandom-crossing may be in the mix as well with the projects Dayo let barrow his talent, The Spectacular Now, which premiered at Sundance this past January, well– it stars Sheilene Woodly, also known as Triss from Divergent. And if you consider John Green’s The Fault In Our Stars to have a fandom, or just Nerdfighteria, Sheilene was just cast in the lead for the adaptation of that masterful novel. Other works in the works for Dayo are a horror film called Slew Hampshire, which I’ll probably never see– ’cause I don’t like horror. No, not because it scares me, because I find it entirely predictable, and laughable. What’s next? Ah yes, a guy-centric film appropriately titled Cavemen, that one’s starring Skylar Astin, AKA Jesse from Pitch Perfect. It looks like it could be an examination on the hopelessness of being a young man living in the 2010’s, also Chad Michael Murray is co-starring, which that freaks me out a little bit. The most interesting project on Dayo’s short but notable dossier, is his most recent project, Runner Runner, what makes it interesting is the starring roles are filled with names like Ben Affleck, Justin Timberlack, and Gemma Arterton. I’ll tell ya’, I’m intrigued just by seeing those names, synopsis of the project is this though, “a businessman who owns an offshore gambling operation finds his relationship with his protégé reaching a boiling point.” I’ll see it, hell– I’ll probably see it opening weekend.

What’s next!? Okay, this might kick Ashton Moio off the most random pedestal, because if you didn’t know it already, Alan Ritchson, our dear, shiny, strong jawed, Gloss, as well as our funny man (he’s really funny, check out his Twitter), has been cast as the voice of Raphael in the new Ninja Turtles re-boot. Also, before he did Catching Fire, he made a film with John Goodman called Spring Break ’83. I may have to see this film just because it takes place the year, and probably the week I was born.

I’ll be honest this one gets me really excited, guys! Jeffrey Wright, our Beetee, has taken a recurring role on HBO’s Boardwalk Empire! I love this series, it’s executive produced by Martin Scorsese, and Mark Wahlberg– which if you haven’t been paying attention for the last 30 + years, produce very good films, and television shows. Any who, about Boardwalk, it’s a period piece set in prohibition era Atlantic City, New Jersey, it’s amazing, and it also stars Steve Buscemi. Wright’s going to be portraying a shady sort, as pretty much everyone on the series is, but even better he’ll be a “philanthropist who controls Harlem.” Shivers just ran down my spine, because not only were the 1920s ripe with the on-set, and/or invention of organized crime, but they were also the birth of so many American cultural markers, like The Harlem Renaissance, the popularizing of jazz, and the beginning of the rise of some of the great American novelists we still consider great today. So, Wright’s going to be fictionally rubbing elbows with likely cultural icons like Langston Hughes, or even Louis Armstrong, which means a wider audience might be exposed, or re-exposed to this age of rich cultural goodness. Color me happy!